Five no-cost phone clients for Linux

FIVE-CARD DRAW

If you have read the introduction to VoIP earlier in this issue, you will be familiar with the Ekiga VoIP client, which comes with the Gnome desktop. Several other softphones also inhabit the desktops of Linux users. In this article, I consider the leading candidates in a head-to-head comparison: Ekiga, KPhone SI, Linphone, Skype, and Twinkle. All of these programs share support or Internet telephony and availability at no cost. All of them, apart from the pro-prietary Skype, are GPL’d and support The SIP and RTP protocols (see the VoIP Basics article). Table 1 gives an overview of the test candidates. The table does not include KPhone SI for reasons that will be explained later.

Using a headset and a webcam to make phone calls is easy, interactive, and even free, thanks to VoIP. In this month's cover story, we'll help you choose a VoIP softphone, and we'll show you how to configure your own Asterisk exchange server.